Tim McInnerny is an acclaimed British actor with an extensive portfolio of some incredible roles, such as Lord Percy Percy in Blackadder, Max in Richard Curtis’ Notting Hill and Lord Robett Glover in HBO series, Game of Thrones, in addition to tonnes of other projects on stage and screen. As one of his latest ventures, Tim is due to perform at York Festival of Ideas in June, and our writer, Emily was lucky enough to have a little chat with him about this upcoming event.
E: Hi Tim, We’re so excited to have you chatting to us ahead of the Festival of Ideas this June and we can’t wait to welcome you to York.
T: My pleasure!
E: Rumour has it on the York grapevine, you’ll be performing alongside the very talented pianist, Lucy Parham. Can you tell us a little bit of what we can expect from the performance in celebration of 150 years of Russian Composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff?
Well, Lucy, apart from being a brilliant pianist, has written about several classical composers, the latest one being Rachmaninoff. And it’s in his own words from letters and diaries etc. So, what’s happened during this pieces, is he talks about his life, at a particular moment when different things happen in his life,and Lucy will play an exert from the music that he’s writing at the time. I mean that makes it sound a bit dry but they’re extremely dramatic. I mean, the lives of these guys are quite extraordinary really.
E: I mean he was alive during the time of the Russian Revolution, a time of great turmoil so it must have been a pretty eventful life!
T: And then he moved over to New York of course…
E: Some big life events there. The theme for this year’s York Festival of Ideas is ‘Rediscover, Reimagine and Rebuild’. If you could rediscover or reimagine yourself in any role that you’ve performed in the past, who would you be? Either on stage, on television, or in film? You’ve been involved in some pretty cool projects over the years…
T:Oh, that’s a tough question! Usually in acting you try to look to the future rather than the past. I mean I’ve been very lucky with some of the parts I’ve played. This might sound a bit boring, but it’s very difficult to get away from Hamlet, really. Because when you play Hamlet you can never get away from it. It’s very humbling to play Hamlet because when you’re really dealing with the mind and it’s just too big.
E: Well he’s such a complex character isn’t he?
T: You’ll always be learning from it. I mean, I remember reading stories from old actors, like Henry Irving or whatever, who played it into his sixties because he said that he could never do it right, carry on doing it for forty years. You can always learn from Shakespeare!
E: Very true, very true. On the subject of rediscovering the past, can you tell us a bit about how you fell into acting? What is it particularly that you love about this field of work?
T: Well, it was when I was at school. In fact, I never wanted to be an actor, I wanted to be a writer. The opposite really, writing is very solitary, whereas acting is a collaborative medium. I was 14 when I was in my first school play, playing a 70-year-old man in the Comedy of Errors, I didn’t want to do it. Immediately, when I was on the stage, it clicked though. I remember looking out to the audience, which of course is all adults and parents, listening to every word you say, which isn’t usually the case at 14. Actors never really grow up and so, I guess I’ve had that feeling ever since.
E: Well, thank goodness for Shakespeare then, ey?
T: *Laughs*
EXACTLY!
E: Have you got any exciting projects coming up in the future that you can tell us about?
T: We’ve just literally finished a new musical film. I like to give myself challenges. The idea of doing things that are easy is boring as far as I’m concerned, so whatever age you are, you have to keep challenging yourself I think. I was asked to do this musical and eventually, in six months’ time, people are going to see me in the cinema singing and dancing which is scary.
E: Amazing!
T: Well, we’ll see. They might all be running and screaming out of the cinema I think. Rehearsing dance two hours a day, five times a week, was hard work. It’s a new musical film about the end of the world, so we’ll see. I think it’ll be out in January or something I would imagine. Then, at the beginning of July, I start working on a film which is the sequel to Gladiator.
E: Oh, excellent! Very exciting stuff coming up then?! Now, as we’re a local mag, and we love any excuse to talk about Yorkshire, we do want to know whether this is your first time here or whether you’ve been out and about in our city before. And if you have, what’s your favourite thing about the area?
T: I have been there before, it was a beautiful city. I do remember that. I think York was the first place where they did the theatrical version of the Railway Children, they did it in the station at York, and in the end, when the train comes into the station, they had a real train coming in. I remember that really strongly, it’s a beautiful city, York.
E: We’ve got a lot of rich train history here, so that makes sense. We’re looking forward to welcoming you back! Finally, Tim, this is a bit of a two-part question. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? And then what advice might you give to another aspiring actor or actress?
T: Oh, another tricky question.
E: Sorry, I’ve asked you all the deep questions here, putting you right on the spot!
T: *Laughs*
Well, there was a wonderful actor, who worked a lot at National Theatre for many years, Micheal Bryant who told me: “Don’t chase the money.” If you pursue that path then you won’t be happy. You might be rich, but you won’t be happy. If you do acting, you do it because you’re passionate about it. You’re very lucky if you can make a living doing something you love.
E: Very wise words indeed. Well, thank you so much for your time Tim, we really appreciate it and we’re looking forward to your visit to York.
T: It’s been a great pleasure!
Catch Tim McInnerny and Lucy Parham at this year’s York Festival of Ideas at their performance of Elégie – Rachmaninoff, A Heart in Exile on Thursday the 15th of June. For more details, please visit yorkfestivalofideas.com/2023/.
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